Ahmed Amr: Blame Kerry’s DLC Straight Jacket

Ahmed Amr: Blame Kerry’s DLC Straight
Jacket

John Kerry lost the White House because he
played by the rules – The Democratic Leadership Council
rules. The DLC appointed JFK as their standard bearer to
contain the campaign within the red lines drawn by Joseph
Lieberman and Haim Saban. As a starting point, Kerry
willingly sold his soul to the DLC devils and set out to
derail Howard Dean’s insurgency. Beyond that, he was free to
win or lose against Bush – so long as he accepted some basic
DLC guidance on domestic and foreign policy.

Kerry and the
DLC avoided the risk of energizing the Democratic Party’s
base – lest the rank and file be tempted to tinker with the
party’s agenda. The DLC convinced Kerry that they could bank
on the Anybody But Bush vote. It follows that they didn’t
feel any obligation to curry favor with the peace movement
or progressives.

In ignoring the anti-war movement, Kerry
made a fatal choice. Because one of the unique
characteristics of this generation of peace activists is
that many of them are older, middle class and conservatives.
This was the kind of peace movement where Pat Buchanan and
George Soros were marching in solidarity with Alexander
Cockburn and Michael Moore. Ex-CIA agents and ex-generals
and state department veterans saw common cause with left
coast peaceniks.

The momentum behind the ABB movement was
fueled by a genuine disgust on both the right and left with
Bush’s neo-con unilateral war mongering strategy. Activists
on both sides of the political divide were concerned with
the erosion in America’s stature on the world stage.

Kerry was fully aware that his sponsors at the DLC were
heavily influenced by neo-con ideology. In fact, the DLC is
an integral part of the war party. Whether out of conviction
or opportunism, JFK willingly allowed them to have their
way. He postured as Bush Heavy on the war and got licked
fair and square on tangential domestic issues. The DLC
convinced Kerry that he was ‘Anybody’ and that the election
was just a referendum on Bush. Now that the results are in,
it is clear that this election started out as a referendum
against the war. When Kerry came out in favor of Bush’s
foreign policy – it became a beauty contest about who had
‘leadership skills’ and ‘moral values’. Given Kerry’s
capitulation to the DLC, maybe the voters made a rational
choice.

An analysis of Kerry’s performance makes it easy
enough to do a little reverse engineering and put together a
basic blueprint of the DLC’s campaign strategy – which
amounted to a tailor made straight jacket for their anointed
candidate.

This is my educated guess of the DLC’s
marching orders to Kerry.

1. Control the urge to
say, “9/11 happened on your watch, Mr. President.”2.
Don’t grill Bush on why he obstructed the work of the 9/11
commission.3. Ignore the Office of Special Plan’s role
in corrupting pre-war intelligence. 4. Continue denying
that there is any link between terrorism and America’s
foreign policy5. Forget about Iraqi civilian casualties
– remember that ‘we don’t do body counts’. 6. Don’t ask
for a grand jury for Dick Cheney and Halliburton. Ignore the
following heavy breathing headlines: “Halliburton cooks
books”. “Shareholders sue Vice President and SEC
investigates.” “No bid contracts awarded to Cheney's
company.” “Cheney's company overcharges Pentagon for fuel.”
“Halliburton gets cost plus contracts from Pentagon.”
“Neo-cons ride to power on a Trojan Horse named Dick”.7.
Of course, The Plame case is off limits. Don’t open that
“neo-con” can of worms.8. AIPAC’s Pentagon spy scandal
is not to be mentioned.9. Don’t call for Ashcroft to
account for his cover up of national security crimes
committed by Bush insiders in the Plame and AIPAC
case.10. Do the war hero routine instead of giving
anti-war speeches. When you salute and report for duty –
remember your commanding officers are stationed at the
DLC.11. Don’t let the ‘neo-con’ word pass your lips.
12. Don’t insult Cheney and Wolfowitz for being chicken
hawks.13. Pretend you never heard of Paul Wolfowitz and
don’t ask for his resignation.14. Don’t call attention
to Richard Perle and his involvement in the financial rape
of the Hollinger group. Don’t ask out loud if his support
for the war had anything to do with his longstanding Likud
ties.15. Douglas Feith is also off limits. Don’t demand
a vigorous investigation of his role in the Plame case or
the AIPAC spy scandal. 16. The American Enterprise
Institute doesn’t exist and there are no Likudnik moles in
the Pentagon. 17. Don’t nail Bush about his failure to
promote democracy in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.18. Accept
the canard that Bush and the neo-cons are out to promote
freedom and democracy in Iraq. Don’t point out the bait and
switch on the rationale for the war.19. Promise to rain
hell on Fallujah once you are elected – all in the name of
freedom and democracy.20. Don’t ask if Bush had
ulterior motives for invading Iraq. Don’t suggest that the
invasion had anything to do with oil or the financial
interests of the Bush family in managing the $900 billion
Saudi investment portfolio.21. Keep a healthy distance
from Senators Byrd and Senator Hollings and any other
Democrat crazy enough to challenge the Israel First crowd.
22. Waste as much time as possible on spinning stories
about your medals and heroism in shooting down unarmed
Vietnamese peasants with the able assistance of your ‘band
of brothers.’ Don’t bore the public with “the last man to
die” mantra.23. Don’t mention Abu Ghraib. War Crimes
happen – you should know. So, don’t go there.24. Don’t
emphasize the missing WMDs.25. Don’t quote Robin Cook’s
take on Charles Duelfer's report on the phantom WMDs. “It
establishes that Iraq had no stockpile, no biological
agents, no chemical feedstocks, no plants to manufacture
them and no delivery systems to fire them. Saddam was no
threat to us and had no weapons of mass destruction to pass
to terrorists. Brushing the UN inspectors aside in order to
go to war on false intelligence was a colossal blunder."
26. Don’t quote David Kay’s conclusions about WMDs: “We
were almost all wrong”. 27. Don’t remind the public of
what Bush said about WMDs: “But for those who say we haven't
found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons,
they're wrong, we found them.” Before the war, Bush was even
more emphatic: "Saddam is building and hiding weapons that
could enable him to intimidate the civilized world." 28.
Don’t embarrass Donald Rumsfeld who claimed that he knew the
exact location of the WMDs. He famously asserted that "We
know where they are.” 29. Don’t suggest that the $600
million spent on searching for WMDs after David Kay’s report
was perhaps the most expensive cover-up in American
History.30. Don’t ask about the missing Bin Laden –
unless he shows up. If Bush doesn’t want to discuss OBL – be
polite and drop the subject.31. Don’t call attention to
the 9/11 commission, which found no links between Iraq and
Al Qaida. 32. Don’t be too inquisitive about why Saddam
has yet to be tried33. Show your support for the troops
by supporting the war in Iraq. Vow to escalate the conflict
and promise to place more young Americans in harm’s way.
Avoid talking about an exit strategy. 34. Don’t mention
that Estonia is standing shoulder to shoulder with America
in Iraq – providing a total of 12 soldiers. Don’t give away
the miniscule number of Mongolian and Micronesian warriors
who are members of the “coalition of the willing”. 35.
Don’t challenge the mass media’s role in promoting the Iraq
war. 36. Don’t start mouthing off about the ‘media
controlled state’ or ask for equal time on FOX. Don’t call
Rupert Murdoch to the mat for usurping so much political
power.37. Avoid exposure to the press. Just say no to
press conferences. Dodging ‘hostile’ journalists has done
wonders for Bush.38. Don’t talk about campaign finance
reform – and always remember who is picking up your election
tab. 39. Don’t make an issue of Bush’s mental health or
suggest that he is intellectually challenged. Only Rove is
allowed to indulge in defamation.40. Don’t ask why Bush
has not demanded justice for the murder of Rachel
Corrie.41. Pretend you didn’t notice Sharon’s apartheid
wall. If it comes up, call it a fence. 42. Don’t dare
challenge Israel’s ‘right’ to slaughter Palestinians on a
daily basis. Call it self-defense. Don’t make an issue of
American financed collective punishment.43. When Sharon
snubs you, act like a wimp and send your brother, Cameron,
to Tel Aviv to lick his boots. 44. Follow Bush’s lead
and support the right of Israel to confiscate Palestinian
land and expand its borders.45. Deny the Palestinian
right to return. But insist on Cameron’s right of return, as
a convert to Judaism.46. Don’t challenge Bush’s policy
to isolate Arafat. Maintain the fiction that a serial war
criminal like Sharon is a ‘man of peace’ searching for a
Palestinian partner to negotiate with. 47. Don’t bring
up recent Israeli revelations that Sharon played Bush for a
fool and had no intention of implementing the Road
Map.48. Neither America nor Israel wants a Middle East
peace process. So, don’t promise any rash new initiatives to
resolve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict49. When the
Kremlin endorses Bush, don’t dare tell Putin to stuff it.
50. When Allawi endorses Bush, don’t make an issue of
his CIA connections. Don’t point out that it is illegal for
the CIA or CIA operatives to intrude on American
elections.51. When Blair endorses Bush, pretend you
didn’t notice.52. If the Bush campaign criticizes you
for claiming the support of ‘Old European’ allies –
apologize and get tough with the French. Promise to be as
unilateral as the current administration.53. Don’t start
getting too continental and cozy up to our European allies.
That might damage the strategic American-Israeli
relationship.54. Think ‘Israel First’ and forget about
the rest of the world.55. Threaten Iran anytime you get
a chance. When you have time, threaten the Saudis. Promise
to be Bush Heavy – not Bush Lite.56. Don’t criticize
Powell for capitulating to Rumsfeld and his neo-cons.
57. Don’t brag about licking Bush in the debates. Show
courtesy for a fellow alumni of Yale and Skull and
Bones.58. Don’t ask if Cheney is really in charge.
Don’t hint that Cheney’s debate performance suggests that he
consistently trounces Bush in internal White House
debates.59. Don’t bring up Pat Robertson’s claim that
Bush estimated there would be no casualties in Iraq. Don’t
press the president to confess that he had no idea what he
was getting into. Don’t press the Pentagon to release their
worst case estimates for American and Iraqi casualties.
60. Don’t point our that Bush spent over ten times the
entire Foreign Aid budget on regime change in Iraq. 61.
Don’t be petty and remind the public of Bush’s ‘mission
accomplished’ sign.62. Don’t ask the neo-cons what
happened to the ‘cakewalk’ in Iraq.63. Say you have a
plan to win the Iraq war but don’t give out any details and
don’t define the parameters of a ‘win’. Don’t promise
Americans or Iraqis a deadline for withdrawal.64. Even
if Afghanistan remains unfinished business – don’t dwell on
it.65. Don’t ask for a progress report on the Enron
scandal or other corporate mischief.66. Don’t go out on
the limb and talk about race relations in America.67.
Don’t back down from your support of the Patriot Act.68.
Don’t dwell on the trade deficit and globalism.69.
Don’t bring up the 30% decline in the value of the
Dollar.70. Be restrained when talking about the
outsourcing of American jobs. Don’t promise to stop
it.71. Don’t ask why oil prices have tripled since Bush
was elected. 72. Don’t mention Koyoto or Global
Warming.73. Don’t make any rash promises about ending
world hunger. 74. Don’t ask why Sweden is never a
target of terrorists. 75. If Karl Rove makes
‘leadership’ the issue, bite.76. If Karl Rove makes gay
marriage the issue, bite.77. If Karl Rove makes
abortion the issue, bite. 78. If Karl Rove makes
‘values’ the issue, bite.79. If Karl Rove makes guns an
issue, show up in a silly outfit and pretend you are
Hemingway on an African Safari.80. If George Bush asks,
“who do you trust”, don’t call him a compulsive liar.81.
Don’t promote class warfare by coddling the labor
movement.82. Don’t make an issue of the minimum wage.
The only poor people that vote are Rove’s evangelical
faithful.83. Don’t promote secular values and
separation of church and state.84. If the Catholic
Church attacks you – don’t complain to the Pope.85.
Don’t act intellectual. Americans voters might think you’re
talking down to them. Make an effort to dumb down your
message 86. Get Theresa to practice yawning in
public.87. Don’t make an appeal for liberal and
progressive support. Declare yourself a conservative. Better
still; declare yourself a card-carrying member of the
neo-con cabal.88. Don’t consider rallying the minority
vote.89. Don’t make an appeal to non-interventionist
conservatives. It would only ignite a struggle against
neo-con control of the Republican Party.90. Don’t make
some idealistic speech against bigotry.91. Don’t
challenge the Christian right to be more Christian.92.
Don’t challenge American Jews to consider Palestinian
rights.93. Don’t pay attention to the Senate
races.94. Forget about the South. Let Bush challenge
you on your blue turf and leave him the red patches on the
map.95. Run against Nader, not Bush.96. Remember
that defeating Dean is Job One. Teach the good doctor the
price of criticizing the DLC for being the "Republican wing
of the Democratic Party".97. Don’t mention the DLC or
straight jackets98. Do not alter this list without first
consulting the DLC. 99. Betray your party, but don’t
ever dare cross the DLC.

Other than the above guidance
from the DLC, Kerry was pretty much free to be his own man.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, once Lieberman and Saban
took their pound of flesh, there was precious little meat
left on the other Skull and Bones candidate. In accepting to
play by DLC rules, Kerry threw away the keys to the White
House. The Democratic Party is destined to continue losing
national elections as long as their candidates are attired
in DLC straight jackets.

*************

Ahmed Amr is the editor of NileMedia.com. This article may
be published and distributed at
will.

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